Filtration rates, flow, and other questions

My apologies Shibby,it seems i have offended you? It was not my intention! But please have a look at my setup in the link i posted to see what i mean. Your DIY comments and assistance is always welcome and often an inspiration to us other DIY nuts!

 

Wow! What a read... I'm exhasuted now! So much info, so little time....

I have a small 2ft tank, +- 60L, tropical fully planted tank. I have an old spare similar sized 2ft tank I've been toying with to convert to a sump. It has to go directly below the main tank though, not beside it. I thought of trying to get the flow rate so that the sump houses a half to 2 thirds of its capacity to leave some space for overflow, but to cater for the whole tank I'd need a 120L sized sump tank for a 60L aquirium... not good... and where'd the fish and plants go if th emain tank runs empty during a power failure?

Prof, you say your design is meant to go beside the tank at the same level. Can it be adapted to work directly underneath the tank? I don't want come home to a water soaked carpet with lots of dead fish on top after a power outage...

 

Hi Neville you can put the sump under the main tank, that is what i did and everything is running perfectly!!!

 

?? I did not see that. Can you quote.

prof's design is to avoid exactly that!

Search a bit more, you will get a drawing of his design.

 

@Neville the Prof's design is easier than the sump below the tank design. I just installed a 2ft sump on my 4ft tank with the sump below the tank with relative ease. You will need to either buy or do what most of us do and build your own DIY overflow box. The overflow box is the most challenging part, everything else is fairly simple.

I will take a few pics of mine and post it over the weekend.

 

Therefore, Prof's design and the "sump below tank design" are two different things?

So Prof's design then doesn't cater for overflow according to this?

Oh? Now I'm really confused. TigerBarb says otherwise??

Was this using Prof's design? No overflow tank added?

 

...on page 7

 

Hi Prof, or anyone else, do you have the measurements for this "NOT syphoning downpipe"-overflow design please? What piping to use and would be really helpful where to source? I imaging to get this in clear transparent plastic would probably be really difficult... ?

(From post #100 on page 10)

 

OK, I see. It is correct, it can be next to as well, as the crucial part is that the level in the overflow is the same as in the tank. When the sump is next to the tank and overflow, the sump level must just be lower than the tank and overflow level. As soon as the sump level is the same, the overflow will stop.

prof's design is to make sure your overflow stop in case of a power failure. I do not see where TB says otherwise?

Maybe we are on different pages here. I did not go through this thread again and assume it is the design that is numbered 1,2 and 3, with the nipple to suck out air and the open pipe at 1.

 

OK, I scrolled to #100 and it is the same one. Notice the water levels at point 2. That is the tank and overflow level. When they are equal, the flow stop. At 3, it runs into the sump, ie 3 can not be higher than the level at 2, but it can be any height below.

 

This is correct, however if you want your sump under your tank you have to have an overflow box so that in case of a power failure you do not flood your house. A picture will reveal everything! sorry for the confusion.

Check out this link http://www.melevsreef.com/plumbing/refugium.gif
It should show you what im talking about when the sump is situated underneath the Main tank.

 

haha, I am confused!

Power failure, pump stop. Pump stop, flow stop. How can it flood your house?

Good animation, btw.

PS. What do you see as the overflow box? Is that not the sump itself?

 

I think he meant that it the water is collected WAY below the tank water level, it would continue syphoning until it drew in air. This is however not applicable when the overflow is an... um... overflow. When the pump stops, water is no longer fed to the tank and as such thhe water will immediately drop to a point where it will no longer go over the overflow, thus ceasing to flow completely. When the power returns, the pump will start, running off the reservoir of water still contained in the sump. As the water level rises, it will flow over the overflow, refilling the reservoir and thus re-establishing the filtration system.

 

Well if your sump is UNDER the main tank, you siphon the water into the sump via a pipe using gravity. Remember the sump is under your main tank and has less water holding capcity than the main tank. If a power failure should take place, the pump will stop but the pipe with the siphon will still be pumping the water into the sump from the main tank and will fill the sump to capicty until it overflows. Remember, the pump is only pumping the water back into the main tank from the sump.

Hence the use of the overflow box seen in the top right hand corner of the animation

Hope this helps!

 

Yes this was the Prof's design. I don't use an overflow box, i made mine just as the prof explained and it works great. Mine is running now for +- a month with no problems and believe me we have power outages almost every freaking day!!!

 

Prof's design is perfect and easier to implement. I was just trying to explain the conventional way in which sumps are used.

Will post pics to show how I did mine

 

O, ok, that makes more sense. BTW, prof's design do not care wheter the sump is next to or below the tank. The sump water level must just be lower than the tank's.

 

I have an overflow in my tank where water enters a pipe going into my sump which is located under my tank. I have a 4ft tank and a 3ft sump. During operation the water level is 3cm from the top of the tank. Now, if the power goes out, water stops entering the tank/exiting the sump. The water level in the tank as such starts to drop while the water level in the sump starts to rise. The water level in the tank will however only drop about 5mm before it stops going over the overflow. The amount of water exiting the tank after a power outage will as such be roughly 25 litres (5mmx1200mmx44mm).

As the final compartment of the sump is not filled to the brim during operation, the water will merely fill the final compartment to the top. There is no risk of overflow in my system. It has been tried and tested. Heck, I turn the power off every time I do a water change, and never spill a drop. I spent loads of time designing my sump to fit my needs, and could not be happier with the results. An effective sump together with purpose selected tankmates can do wonders for tank maintenance!

That being said, I think filtration is possibly one of the most custom parts of a tank, as everyone has their own idea of what works best and what doesn't. In the end the main requirement is parameters that are stable and water that is clean, and as long as that is achieved, the method really doesn't matter.

 

Pictures please mate?!

Ditto here. Pictures please Gerrit?!

 

Overflow located in the corner at the back


Overflow grid behind the feeding ring. Keeps the fish out of the sump ;-)

Empty tank showing the plumbing going into the sump

Plumbing entering and exiting new improved sump